Month: September 2009

Israel imports palm fronds from Gaza for Sukkot

by adminin Lead Story, Writing

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Israel imports palm fronds from Gaza for Sukkot

Maan News Agency, September 30, 2009

Yesterday the Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, approved the immediate importation of palm fronds from the Gaza Strip to Israel, according to the Hebrew daily Ma’ariv. The move came at the behest of Minister of Religious Services, Yakov Margi, who feared that a shortage of palm fronds and a local monopoly on the item would send prices skyrocketing for the Jewish holiday Sukkot.

For the weeklong holiday, many Israelis build a sukkah (literally booth) using palm fronds for the hut’s roof. The temporary shelter is constructed in remembrance of the forty years that, according to religious tradition, the ancient Israelites wandered in the desert.

Minister Margi reportedly thanked Minister Barak for the decision, stating that it would keep the prices of palm fronds down and would preclude local merchants from overcharging customers.

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Weekend in Nazareth: dig in

by adminin Miscellaneous, Writing

dsc04181 Weekend in Nazareth: Dig in

The Jerusalem Post, September 25, 2009

The small green door, peeking out onto a sliver of an alley in Nazareth’s Old City, is deceptively humble. The low frame makes visitors bow their head, as though they were in prayer, as they enter. But the gesture feels appropriate. Stepping into the plant-lined courtyard and standing under the Ottoman-era arches of Fauzi Azar Inn is a magical, almost transcendent, moment.

It was this same feeling that inspired Maoz Inon to turn what was once a derelict mansion into the bustling guesthouse it is today.

Inon discovered the site in 2005. Fresh from a year hiking with his wife in the States and South America—a journey that convinced the couple to open their own lodgings on the Israel National Trail—Inon was wandering the Old City. The cobbled lanes were empty. The metal shutters of store fronts were clamped shut. And the Azar mansion—with its marble floors, 19th century frescoes, and domed windows overlooking Nazareth—sat still.

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Israel tightens the noose on advocacy organizations

by adminin Writing

dsc04592-300x2251Israel tightens the noose on advocacy organizations

The Electronic Intifada, September 23, 2009

Israel’s new tactic

The Khaleej Times, October 3, 2009

Mu’tasem Billah Abu-Mastfa was born in Gaza. Though he is just nine months old, his parents are already trying to get him out of the Strip.

Abu-Mastfa was born with severe congenital heart defects—his heart, riddled with holes, is on the right side of his chest. He is currently receiving treatment at El Nasser Pediatric Hospital in Gaza, but his condition is deteriorating. And due to the ongoing Israeli blockade the medical system in Gaza—short on supplies, its staff unable to leave the Strip to obtain further training—is unable to cope with such a complicated case.

On September 13, Abu-Mastfa was expected to arrive at an Israeli facility, Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer. There he would have received the care that might prolong, or even save, his life. But the date came and went and the infant remained in Gaza. Although his parents had submitted an application to enter Israel for medical treatment over two weeks prior to the admission date, they hadn’t received a response from the Israeli authorities—leaving the couple unable to take their son to the doctors who were waiting for him.

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A wildfire of art in Tel Aviv

by adminin Miscellaneous, Writing

dsc04979 A wildfire of art in Tel Aviv

The Jerusalem Post, September 18, 2009

It’s a Thursday night in Tel Aviv and the sparks are literally flying—outside the Engel Gallery on Gordon Street, artist Jack Jano is using a blow-torch to put the finishing touches on his installation, soferstam (torah scribe). Art enthusiasts mill about, sipping wine and watching from a safe distance. The brave dart past Jano and enter the gallery to explore.

A sandy path leads the viewer through heaps of Hebrew, forged from iron. The metal is rusted and, in some spots, coated with a green patina; the font is reminiscent of ancient script. From the piles of letters, words emerge, lying prone on the ground or standing proudly, rising from the surrounding babble. The viewer steps around “emet” (truth) then walks past a large “shma” (hear)—the first word of the Shma Israel prayer. Following the trail through the Hebrew language, the viewer feels the gravity of the Jewish people’s history and religion’s weight in this shared heritage.

Jano continues to play the role of wordsmith in a video installation in the gallery’s inner room. In an endless loop, the artist appears before the viewer on half a dozen screens, in half a dozen disguises, prattling away in multiple languages.

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Bringing artistry to the orchards

by adminin Israel, Writing

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Bringing artistry to the orchards

The Jerusalem Post, September 11, 2009

There’s something new coming from one of Israel’s oldest communities—fruit bearing curious names like Watermelon Plums, Plumegranates, and Pita Peaches.

They’re the creative product of Ben-Dor Fruits and Nurseries, which is located in Yesud Hama’ala. Founded in 1883 during the first aliyah, Yesud Hama’ala’s early settlers took advantage of the Galilee’s rich Hula Valley, laying the agricultural roots that remain today.

Though the Ben-Dors were among the founders, their family farm didn’t evolve into a thriving business until 23 years ago, when Seffi Ben-Dor took over. Ben-Dor, who paints in his spare time, brought artistry to his orchards. Using traditional methods of selective pollination, Ben-Dor began crafting unique varieties of stone fruits, the family that includes plums, peaches, and apricots.

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Sidebar: A different kind of activism

by adminin Israel, Writing

dsc04571The Palestinian village of Bil’in, located in the West Bank, is a flashpoint for the Arab-Israeli conflict. Since 2005, Bil’in has been the site of Friday demonstrations attended by hundreds of Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals in protest of the impending construction of the separation wall, the division of Palestinian-owned land, as well as the continued building of Israeli settlements. According to the protestors and Palestinians the barbed wire security fence, which serves as a temporary separation, also prevents farmers from accessing their land.

The weekly rally sometimes turns violent. In the past, protestors have thrown rocks at Israel Defense Forces soldiers; occasionally IDF forces have fired rubber-coated bullets at the crowd.

The IDF typically uses “skunk bombs”—a putrid-smelling liquid— and tear gas to disperse the demonstration. The tear gas canisters, propelled at high speeds, sometimes injure protestors. In March of 2009, American Tristan Anderson was critically injured when he was struck in the head by a tear gas canister. In April of 2009, Palestinian Bassam Abu Rahma was hit in the chest by such a canister and died.

Read the full story: A different kind of activism.

A different kind of activism

by adminin Israel, Writing

21-300x1991A different kind of activism

The Jerusalem Post, September 11, 2009

It’s Friday afternoon in the West Bank village Bil’in. A crowd of protestors—Israeli, Palestinian, and international—is gathered at the barbed-wire separation fence. Facing the IDF on the other side, they chant in Hebrew, Arabic, English, and Spanish. Their voices are punctuated by the occasional pop of a tear gas canister launching into the air. Rapidly clicking camera shutters serve as quiet percussion.

But not all of these photographers are with the press. Some of them are with Activestills—a group that, like other photoactivists, attempts to bring provocative images to the attention of the Israeli mainstream.

Now a collective of ten photographers, Activestills began in 2005 with a few individuals who noticed each other documenting the same politically-charged events. “We all wanted to do something to promote the issues we believe in,” Keren Manor, one of the founders, recalls.

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Prague from on high

by adminin Writing

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Prague from on high

The Jerusalem Post, September 11, 2009

Viewed from Old Town’s cobblestone streets, Prague is Europe rendered as a confectionary wonder. Pastel-hued buildings, with baroque curves and curlicues that resemble icing, lick at the spire-filled sky. Even the sharp lines of Gothic structures seem the stuff of children’s birthday cakes—reminding the viewer less of history and more of fairytales with pink-frocked princesses locked in dark towers.

To scrape away the marzipan (and the tourist crowds) cross Vltava River and head on high to Letna Park (Letenske sady), a sprawling neighborhood park that’s rarely mentioned in guidebooks. Here you’ll get breathtaking views of the city, glimpses of the locals, a summer beer garden, and a dash of Communist history to boot.

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The Missing Mizrahim

by adminin Miscellaneous, Writing

 notthenemyshabi1

 The Missing Mizrahim: review of Rachel Shabi’s Not the Enemy: Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands, and Q & A with the author

Zeek, August 31, 2009

Some critics have faulted Rachel Shabi’s Not the Enemy: Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands as one-sided. Shabi neglects the animosity that existed between Jews and Muslims long before 1948, the critics say. She exaggerates how good things were for the Jews of the Orient, they moan.

But it seems that Shabi’s detractors might have missed the point.

The pivot that Shabi’s work revolves around is, perhaps, easy to miss. It is simple, a delicate foundation for hundreds of pages. Fortunately, Shabi has taken care to illuminate it in an old-fashioned thesis sentence. She writes: “This book is focused on the stifled, small-voice analysis seeking to break this stalemate formula.”

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